Saturday, May 31, 2008

Houses of Japan (3)

Houses of Japan series

A souvenir (omiyage) shop in Takayama.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO

Friday, May 30, 2008

Houses of Japan (2)

Houses of Japan, series

This residential house was taken in Gifu. It is tiny and you would really have to crouch to get into the door.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Houses of Japan (1)

house in Japan

When you think of houses in Japan, don't you think of glossy architecture and tiny apartments? There are plenty of those around, of course, but in the countryside and big cities alike, there are still a lot of old houses for the photographer to discover. Today I'll be starting a series of the old, quaint and other interesting buildings that I have photographed during my visits to Japan.

The building above is a pawnshop in Takayama. One of those places you'll be sure to bump your head when entering as the door reaches less than 1.80m (6ft).

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Icebergs in glacial lagoon at Jökulsárlón

 Icebergs in glacial lagoon at Jokulsarlon

I'm still intrigued by the black sand and white skies. Lots of seals would swim up into the lagoon as the mixture of fresh and seawater caused a lot of fish to feed there.

Camera: Pentax MZ-3, lens: Sigma 28-300mm - 1:3.5-6.3 + ILFORD FP4+

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

The Parliament building

The Parliament building on the Danube taken from the Castle Hill area.

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 70-200mm 1:2.8 EX APO + ILFORD FP4+

Monday, May 26, 2008

Széchenyi Chain Bridge and Basilica at night

Széchenyi Chain Bridge and Basilica at night

Night shot from Castle Hill over the Széchenyi Chain Bridge and the basilica. Taken from my tripod with an exposure of 15 seconds for an f/20 and an ISO value of 200. The difficulty was that the bridge was much brighter lit than the basilica and the rest of the town.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Széchenyi Chain Bridge

Széchenyi Chain Bridge in Budapest

Larger than its twin in Marlow, England, the Széchenyi Chain Bridge is much more imposing because of location and decorations.

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO + ILFORD FP4+

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Sloping street

View from the hotel. Isn't this what you would expect a street in Eastern Europe to look like? Empty, except for a single bus and lined with blocks and blocks of drab apartment buildings? The truth is that you'll have a hard time finding a location like that and the way the Hungarians keep building and reconstructing, soon none of the 1950 apartment buildings will be left.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 70-200mm 1:2.8 EX APO

Friday, May 23, 2008

St. Stephen (István) Cathedral

Tourists on the square in front of the Basilica.

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO + ILFORD FP4+

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Don't spook the horse

3 horses lined up

Three horses showing different levels of interest in this photographer. I used HDRI to keep some of the detail in the sky for this poorly exposed photo.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm - 1:3.5-5.6 DC

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Framed Basilica

I'm lousy at framing! ^_^;;

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO + ILFORD FP4+

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Talking stones, Paris November 2005

Exhibition at the Palais Royal, Paris, next to the Louvre

An exhibition of "talking stones" at the Palais Royal in Paris, just outside the Louvre Museum. There were several stones and they would strike up conversations amongst themselves. Very cleverly done with the projection on the stones which really gave believable facial expressions.

I was sort of reminded of them when I was in Chicago last January where they had these talking walls in the Millennium Park.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm - 1:3.5-5.6 DC

Monday, May 19, 2008

Inside Fisherman's Bastion

Passage in Budapest

Even more stairs when you get to Fisherman's Bastion. The Bastion takes its unusual name from the guild of fishermen which was responsible for defending this stretch of the city walls in the Middle Ages. The Bastion itself was erected between 1895 and 1902.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Daffodil

A photo I took while getting familiar with my MZ-S. I like the delicacy of this shot and the depth-of-field works well, IMO.

Note that I have opened a new photoblog at Aminus3 that I will use to showcase my better photos, I would appreciate it if you could check it our or subscribe to it. The title of the blog, There Will Come Soft Rains, comes from a short 12-line poem by Sara Teasdale written in 1920.

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO + ILFORD FP4+

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Evening walk

Lonely bench along the stairs around Castle Hill Budapest

Coming back from taking the night shots from the top of Castle Hill, I couldn't resist taking this shot now that I had my tripod with me. If you have been hanging around this blog since last year, you might remember that I did a course for Zoom-In and I used "benches" as my assignment.

The reason I like this shot is the unreal feeling it captured that was created by the light used.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 24-70mm 1:2.8 EX DG MACRO

Friday, May 16, 2008

Rooftops

Rooftops have always fascinated me but they are so difficult to capture in a single photo. This is not a great photo, but it captures a little of the image I had at the time. The trick is to make the difference between the cropped view of a photo and the depth-of-field work in your advantage and capture the essence, and if you can do that consistently, you have reached grand-master level, IMO. Visualize, visualize and visualize... ^_^;;

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO + ILFORD FP4+

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Fisherman's Bastion at night

Night shot of Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest

A 20 seconds exposure of the Fisherman's Bastion, the oft-photographed terrace in neo-Gothic and neo-Romanesque style with a part of the Matthias Church visible all the way to the left and the Hilton hotel behind that church.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 70-200mm 1:2.8 EX APO

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Statues

Sandblasting man at Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest

A statue being sandblasted at the Fisherman's Bastion, the sand and the grime splattered back on the person almost turns him into a living statue.

Talking of living statues, I was happily surprised that there were none around; I didn't see a single one during my stay there. In London or Paris when you get close to a tourist attraction you can find them in any form and shape. The musicians in the restaurants are everywhere, though, and we didn't escape 'An der schönen blauen Donau' of course ^_^;;

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

The Stairs (2)

Romantic photo of stairs at Castle Hill Budapest

Around Castle Hill you are never far away from an aerobic workout and it was a pity that Wii Fit had not been released at the time of our trip. ^_^

Reminiscent of Montmartre in Paris, the footpath from the hotel to the top of Castle Hill was beautiful but, like in Paris, I failed to record that quality of the steps on photo. The yellow filter which gives the foliage the almost transparent quality really helps this shot.

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO + ILFORD FP4+

Monday, May 12, 2008

The Stairs (1)

There is a funicular to get to the top of the hill at Castle Hill, Budapest, but it is much more fun to walk up to it. The day we arrived, however, we went up and over the hill so many times exploring the town that we were completely exhausted and luckily we found a place selling Weißbier and goulash soup which might not be the recommended combination, but it did taste so very good!  ^_^;;

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO + ILFORD FP4+

Sunday, May 11, 2008

St. Stephen (István)

Saint Stephen I, the first King of Hungary with a halo of the sun. I used HDR techniques to keep the details of the statue without blowing out the sky.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO / HDRI

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Churches on the Danube

View over Budapest

Taken from Castle Hill with the three completely different church towers lining up in an interesting way.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 70-200mm 1:2.8 EX APO

Friday, May 09, 2008

View from the Castle

Photo of the danube and budapest

View from Castle Hill over the Danube, Chain Bridge and the Basilica, Budapest.

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO + ILFORD FP4+

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Living in Budapest

Houses in Budapest, view from Caslte Hill

View from Castle Hill over Buda. This area feels more cosy than the very business-like Pest side of town.

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 70-200mm 1:2.8 EX APO + ILFORD FP4+

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

The Passage (2)

backlit tunnel in Budapest

This is the same passage as in this photo, but taken from the other side and at another time of day such that the other side is backlit once again. The over exposure of the backlit parts nicely covers up the streams of tourists passing by in the background. :-)

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO+ ILFORD FP4+

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

The Battle of Buda

One building on the top of Castle Hill still bears the scars of the Battle of Buda which had taken more than 3 months with the Germans and the somewhat reluctant Hungarian forces dug in in the catacombs of Castle Hill and Gellért Hill, and the approaching Red Army having encircled the town. Despite being cut off of supplies and starving, the defenders refused to surrender and defended every street and house, fighting Soviet troops and tanks.

One of the local people I talked to during my visit had witnessed the battle as a young girl and had kept a day-by-day diary of the battle which she had last lost unfortunately after the war and she was still very upset by that. I had just taken the long exposure photo of Castle Hill and was still admiring the view when she said: "It is all new, you know." Having seen footage of the state of German and Russian cities just after the war, I could image that by the end of the Battle of Buda, Castle Hill must have been completely in ruins. We had quite a chat about the battle and how it had been for the people living in Budapest.

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO + ILFORD FP4+

Monday, May 05, 2008

The passage (1)

This is one of the photos I brought back from Budapest that I enjoyed the most: the backlit, slightly bokeh figures in the passage, the lit up leaves in the top left corner, and the two shields well separated from their backgrounds.

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO + ILFORD FP4+

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Basilica

Tourists and local people walking around the St. Stephen (István) Cathedral.

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO

Saturday, May 03, 2008

Shoes on the Danube Promenade

holocaust memorial for the victims shot into the Danube by Arrow Cross militiamen

As I have shown the previous days, Budapest is a very beautiful city but it is also a city where you get confronted with the complicated past at almost every turn. Memorials for the uprisings of 1848 and 1956 are spread throughout the centre and, on the stone embankment of the Danube, you'll find a holocaust memorial for the victims shot into the Danube by Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944-45. Erected 16 April 2005.

Camera: Pentax MZ-S, lens: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO

Friday, May 02, 2008

The Basilica from the outside

St. Stephen (István) Cathedral (the Basilica), budapest, hungary

The bumbling of the tourists on the square in front of the St. Stephen Cathedral in Budapest.

Photo taken from the Castle Hill area.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: Sigma 70-200mm 1:2.8 EX APO

Thursday, May 01, 2008

St. Stephen (István) Cathedral (the Basilica)

The beautiful inside of the St. Stephen (István) Cathedral (the Basilica)

The beautiful inside of St. Stephen (István) Cathedral in Pest.  Stephen I of Hungary was the first king of Hungary and his right hand is kept as a relic in the chapel of this basilica.

The photo above improves a lot when viewing the larger version and I really regret having to present you with this toned down version in this blog.

Camera: Pentax K100D, lens: Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO